200

Lex ET Scientia. Economics Series

AN OVERVIEW OF REGULATIONS THAT PROTECT REAL ESTATE STOCKS, REITS AND DERIVATIVE INVESTORS IN HONG KONG
Rita Yi Man LI* Yi Lut LI*

Abstract All investors seek to make money. The repeated financial crises in recent years not only caused many people to lose their money; it also reminds us of the importance of financial regulations to reduce investors losses due to improper business activities in a company or stock market. Together with London and New York, Hong Kong is one of the best known financial markets in the world. Real estate investment does not rest on direct investments in hotels, residential units, or the stock market. In this decade, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and derivatives provide a new source of investment. Yet, the huge volume of transactions coupled with increasingly complicated investment tools also implies that the rules of the legal system affect many people. While many European countries and China follow civil law systems, Hong Kong follows a common law system. Judge-made law forms one of the major sources of law and lays down the important rules on indirect real estate investment. The code of practice and legislation also provide a framework for investors and entrepreneurs.

Keywords: Real Estate Derivatives, Real Estate Stock, REITs, Hong Kong

1. Introduction
An increasing number of new financial tools are being developed to enable investors to make money. Gone are the days when the stock market was the only source of indirect real estate investment. Options, swaps, accumulators and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) provide alternative ways to hedge losses in the stock market or act as alternative investment tools. Due to the smaller transaction costs, the existence of a public market place in the securitized market, higher liquidity, greater number of market participants, the indirect real estate market is generally more efficient than the direct one (Oikarinen et al. 2011). The quality of financial infrastructure relies on an effective legal framework (Herring and Chatusripitak 2000), Hong Kongs success as one of the highest rank financial centers also relies on this (MacNeil and Lau 2001). History also shows that appropriate legal regulations plays an important role in financial market, for example, overregulation and unfavourable tax treatment once resulted in a sluggish start of REITs in the U.S (Ulrich Schacht and Jens Wimschulte 2008). While previous pool of literature sheds light on causes of subprime financial crisis, few or no research paper has studied the regulations which protect indirect real estate investors. This study reviews Hong Kongs indirect real estate market statistics during financial crisis. It was found that Hong Kong REITs markets drop in prices was lowest among Australia, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Singapore and
Department of Economics and Finance, Hong Kong ritarec1@yahoo.com.hk (corresponding contact) * School of Law, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
*

Shue

Yan

University,

Hong

Kong,

LESIJ NR. XVIII, VOL. 2/2011

Rita Yi Man LI Yi Lut LI

201

France. The stock market ranked number two in the World during financial crisis. The paper then proposes the reasons behind her success through the lens of well-established rules and regulations. The research results provide useful insights to legal drafters when they attempt to draft relevant rules and regulations.

2. Indirect real estate investment tools

The merits of including real estate in a mixed-asset portfolio have been well documented. These include liability matching characteristics and risk diversification. Nevertheless, investment in the direct real estate market, which includes retail, residential, hotel and office properties suffers from obsolescence, lumpiness information asymmetries and co-ownership problems (i.e., unclear property rights) (Hoesli and Lekander 2008). In view of these drawbacks, many investors choose to invest in the indirect real estate market, such as property stocks, derivatives and REITs. 2.1 Real Estate Stocks Stock owners can be viewed as owners of the company. Although stock ownership is often raised as one of the typical examples of the principal agent problem (when the owners and managerial staff are not the same person, managers may primarily pursue selfish interests, such as power, instead of running a profitable business), it brings many benefit to both firm owners and individual investors. From entrepreneurs perspectives, a listing in the stock market is a good source of financing. Whereas borrowing money from a bank may involve huge expenses in the form of interest, money captured in the stock market does not require an expenditure on interest. On the other hand, the investors also view that it is a golden opportunity to invest in the real estate market with a small amount of money. Moreover, unlike direct real estate investment, which requires a lengthy transaction process, stocks can be bought or sold at any time. Many of the Hong Kong listed firms are predominantly property businesses in nature, focusing on land, buildings, and estates. Many firms also conglomerate with other sectors, including trading, industrial and utility businesses, but have significant property interests on their balance sheets (Wallace and Naser 1995). Many real estate companies were listed as early as the 1970s, such as Cheung Kong Holdings, Sun Hung Kai Properties, and Sino Land. As Chinas economy grew quickly in the early 1990s, many China-based companies became listed in Hong Kong, such as China Overseas and China Resources. During financial crisis, the listed property securities had not shrunk much in Hong Kong. In terms of market capitalization, Hong Kong property securities market ranked number 2 in the World (Newell and Razali 2009). Country Number property securities 126 163 62 78 38 47 of Market capitalization (US$ billion) 175 107 39 56 16 6 % of Asia market 41.4 25.3 9.2 13.2 3.8 1.4 % of global market 18.5 11.3 4.1 5.9 1.7 0.6 World ranking (by US$) 2 3 7 4 10 26

Hong Kong Japan Singapore China India Taiwan

Table 1 Listed property securities markets in Asia in December 2008 (Newell and Razali 2009) LESIJ NR. XVIII, VOL. 2/2011

202

Lex ET Scientia. Economics Series

2.2 Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) An REIT is a business trust, corporation or association which combines capital of investors to own and operate income producing real estate or to engage in real estate finance activities. REITs are analogous to mutual funds as they pool investors funds (Daly 2008). The performance of REITs and that of the housing market are not directly comparable as the date which controls their prices come from different sources. A REITs performance is measured in a way similar to those publicly traded stock (Monroe 2009). In 1960, REITs were introduced in the USA to offer retail investors a possibility to invest in diversified property portfolios. A couple of countries have followed since then: Netherland (1969), Luxemburg (1988), Spain (1994), Italy (1994), Belgium (1995), France (2003) and lately the UK (2007) (Ulrich Schacht and Jens Wimschulte 2008). There are four different types of REITS currently (Rong and Trck 2010): 1. Mortgage trusts: the assets are invested in claims where interest is the major source of income. 2. Specialized trusts: investment in development and construction which involved in sale and lease-back arrangements. 3. Hybrid trusts: the assets invest in equity and mortgages, offering an advantage which offsets the interest income against depreciation of the property. 4. Equity trusts: the assets are invested in ownerships claims to different types of properties, e.g. commercial, industrial or residential property. The first Hong Kong REIT, known as the Link, was launched by the Hong Kong Housing Authority in 2005 (Ooi et al. 2006). Since then, 7 REITs have become listed in the Hong Kong Stock Market (Table 2). To further understand the correlation between 7 REITs prices in Hong Kong, daily REITs prices data from 6 November 2007 to 17 June 2011 was collected from Yahoo! Finance. The Pearson correlation results from SPSS 11 show that all the 7 REITs show a significant correlation with one another, i.e. most of the REITs fluctuate together (Table 3). That is collapse of one REIT may affect the other REITs in market badly.

LESIJ NR. XVIII, VOL. 2/2011

Rita Yi Man LI Yi Lut LI

203
Description The Link Real Estate Investment Trust was Hong Kong's first REIT. It includes a portfolio of 180 car park and retail facilities. Regal REIT includes a portfolio of hotel properties in Hong Kong (Regal Real Estate Investment Trusts 2010). Sunlight REIT includes a diversified portfolio of 8 retail and 12 office properties in Hong Kong. The retail properties are located in regional transportation hubs, new towns and other urban areas with high population density, and the office properties are located in both core and decentralised business areas (Sunlight REIT 2010). It includes Gateway Plaza, a Premium Grade A office complex located in Beijing (RREEF China Commercial Trust 2010). Champion REIT owns 95.7% of Citibank Plaza, a modern steel and glass office complex that comprises Citibank Tower, a 47-storey building, and ICBC Tower, a parking garage for 555 vehicles and a retail podium (Champion REIT 2010). The portfolio includes properties with direct mass transportation network access in Hong Kong. These properties include Prosperity Place, The Metropolis Tower, Prosperity Centre, Prosperity Millennia Plaza, Harbourfront Landmark, Trendy Centre and New Treasure Centre (Prosperity REIT 2010). Description Champion REIT was spun off from Great Eagle Holdings, Its principal asset includes a stake in Citibank Plaza (GZI REIT Assessment Management Limited 2010).

Name of REIT The Link

Hong Kong stock code 823

Regal Real Estate Investment Trust Sunlight REIT

1881

435

PREEF China Commercial Trusts Champion REIT

625

2778

Prosperity REIT

808

Name of REIT GZI REITs

Hong Kong stock code 405

Table 2 Real Estate Investment Trusts in Hong Kong

LESIJ NR. XVIII, VOL. 2/2011

204
LINK LINK Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N REGAL Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N GZI Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Prosperity Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N CHAMPIO Pearson N Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N SUNLIGHT Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N PREEF Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N 1 . 893 REGAL GZI

Lex ET Scientia. Economics Series Prosperity CHAMPION SUNLIGHT PREEF .817(**) .000 893 .953(**) .000 892 .891(**) .000 893 .969(**) .000 893 1 . 893 .962(**) .000 893 .863(**) .000 891 .801(**) .000 893 .955(**) .000 892 .868(**) .000 893 .953(**) .000 893 .962(**) .000 893 1 . 893 .821(**) .000 891 .847(**) .000 891 .889(**) .000 891 .903(**) .000 891 .854(**) .000 891 .863(**) .000 891 .821(**) .000 891 1 . 891

.870(**) .952(**) .868(**) .000 892 .000 893 .000 893

.870(**) 1 .000 892 . 892

.924(**) .944(**) .000 892 .000 892 .907(**) .000 893

.952(**) .924(**) 1 .000 893 .000 892 . 893

.868(**) .944(**) .907(**) 1 .000 893 .000 892 .000 893 . 893

.817(**) .953(**) .891(**) .969(**) .000 893 .000 892 .000 893 .000 893

.801(**) .955(**) .868(**) .953(**) .000 893 .000 892 .000 893 .000 893

.847(**) .889(**) .903(**) .854(**) .000 891 .000 891 .000 891 .000 891

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

LESIJ NR. XVIII, VOL. 2/2011

Rita Yi Man LI Yi Lut LI

205

Table 2 Stock price correlations between 7 REITS in Hong Kong (Authors SPSS results)Fortunately, all the REITs in Hong Kong perform quite well during financial crisis. She dropped less than many other countries REITs which include France, Japan, the U.S., Singapore, the U.K. and Australia. Impact of financial crisis Rank of change (least on REITs market =1, most=7) Hong Kong -28.50% 1 France -36.80% 2 Japan -37.10% 3 US -38.30% 4 Singapore -56.10% 5 UK -59.10% 6 Australia -64.80% 7 Global -45.00% Table 3 Impact of financial crisis on REITs market (Newell and Razali 2009) Countries

2.3 Real Estate Derivative A derivative refers to an investment tool whose value is determined by, or derived from, a bundle of assets or the value of another asset. Financial derivatives can appear in a variety of forms, including futures and swaps, call and put options and more exotic complex instruments (Clayton 2007). Derivatives include swaps, options and so on. Many people nowadays associate derivatives with infamous financial events (e.g., the subprime financial crisis in 2007-2009) and scandals resulting from speculative use of derivative and hugely leveraged financial instruments. Joseph Stieglitz, a Nobel economics prize-winner, suggests that their use should be outlawed. Nevertheless, they are in no doubt an excellent, indispensable tool of risk management. Myron Scholes, another Nobel laureate, says a complete ban would be a luddite response which takes financial markets back decades (Suetin 2011). The underlying assets in real estate derivative are those property related indicies, mortgage etc. Real Estate derivatives have many uses, e.g. hedging, portfolio diversification or get exposure to foreign countries real estate without buying physical property (Fabozzi et al. 2010). Real estate derivatives witness tremendously growth in the UK and Europe recently. They were introduced since the early 1980s with the establishment of the Investment Property Databank (IPD) index in the U.K (Ong and Ng 2009). Two main types of property derivatives available in the UK now are total return swaps based on IPD indices and property index certificates (Patel and Pereira 2008). In the U.S., Credit Suisse First Boston LLC teamed up with NCREIF in an attempt to create the first US real estate investment derivatives market in mid 2005 (Ong and Ng 2009). In Asia, Hong Kong is the first city which offers real estate indexes for derivative trading. Developed jointly by GFI Colliers HK and the University of Hong Kong in November 2006, the monthly indexes cover the residential markets in Hong Kong Island, New Territorries and Kowloon in Hong Kong (Ong and Ng 2009).

LESIJ NR. XVIII, VOL. 2/2011

206

Lex ET Scientia. Economics Series

3. Laws and regulations that govern real estate stocks, derivatives and REITs
In Hong Kong, financial investors are protected by legislative rules and judge-made law (common law). Because Hong Kong was once a colony of the United Kingdom, many of these rules are rooted in UK law. Apart from that, the Basic Law also provides useful insights on financial regulations. 3.1 Common Law in Hong Kong: jurisprudence and legal reasoning The common law is common in the sense that it is generally adopted in English terrain. Unlike the civil law system, the common law system is less influenced by Roman law. The common law system gives a great precedential weight to common law (case law), in which judges make judgments according to the doctrine of precedent of courts together with the statute statements. Hence, there is a wide range of variety of sources of law. Under the common law system, there are three major primary sources: statutes (laws enacted by the legislature, which is given authorisation of the government, also known as legislation), case law (judge-made law), and customary law. Alternatively, common law can be classified into two types, public and private. The former includes criminal law, administrative law and constitutional law, concerning the public bodies or officials to protect public decision makers from risk or challenges made by those who use judicial process as a means of political point (Mcleod 2009). Private laws involve the dealings of private parties. Examples are contract and company law, which are common in indirect real estate transactions. Finally, some customs are also defined as law, i.e., customary law. Other secondary sources of law, such as directories and journals, are not treated as real law but as an interpretation. The common law is different from the civil law system in the sense that it is part of the law which is contained in the decision of courts rather than having been enacted by the parliament(Mcleod 2009). In other words, judges have to analyse the statutes (enacted by legislation), understand the overall picture of the case, then apply the various principles, with less sensible ones rendered void while more sensible ones are adopted in the judgment. If necessary, precedential judgment is also considered. The ultimate court decision will become a case law that is binding to future cases, a principle known as stare decisis. One should note that equity has been incorporated into common law to provide non-monetary remedies, e.g., injunctions. In the common law regime, jurisprudence is the theoretical analysis of legal issues at the highest level of abstraction. Therefore, jurisprudence should be understood before the discussion of common law (Martin 2009). One of its important emphases is American (Legal) Realism, with O.W. Holmes (d. 1935) as its founder. This stream of academics focuses on law in action rather than law in book. In other words, the law should be determined by practices in the real world. Behind any explicit formulation of judicial reasoning there lies an implicit attitude on the part of the judge (Mcleod 2009, p.4). A judges personal interpretations of a case, previous case laws and statutes together affect his decision. Because judges decisions influence the functioning of the law by augmenting case law, some criticisms arise. Common law is undemocratic in the sense that judges, who can alter the law, are not elected by the public. Additionally, unfairness may result because judges may be biased in particular conditions. These situations can be regarded as the drawbacks of common law (WesleySmith 1998). Because the jurisdiction can be influenced by the precedential judgment, legal reasoning, which is syllogistic, is involved. By comparing the statement of law (major premise)
LESIJ NR. XVIII, VOL. 2/2011

Rita Yi Man LI Yi Lut LI

207

and statement of fact (minor premise), legal outcomes can be reasoned. There are three legal reasoning methods: analogy, inductive reasoning, and deductive reasoning. Analogy means that, if A has numerous similarities with B, then A and B should be similar to each other in some way. In law, similar cases should be judged in a similar way so that a similar result is obtained and thus fairness is maintained. This is also known as stare decisis as mentioned before. The rationale for inductive reasoning is that the court observes different cases and then works out a principle for general application of the law. Deductive reasoning means evaluating a proposition with reasoning by applying the established principles of logic. Its rationale flows from general to specific conditions (Mcleod 2009). 3.2. Regulation of Hong Kong real estate derivatives, REITs and stocks Many people argue that the failure of large complex financial institutions in 2007-2009 was the results of unprepared legal and regulatory systems (Arner and Norton 2009). There is no doubt that maturity and transparency in many Asian real estate markets have improved considerably since the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 (Ooi et al. 2006). During the global financial tsunami, Hong Kongs real estate stock and REITs perform better than many other overseas markets during financial crisis. How do Hong Kong legal rules and regulations protect investors? 3.2.1 Regulation of real estate stocks As share price equals the discounted value of expected cash flows (Nwaeze 2000; Ambrose and Bian 2010), regulations which affect the future cash flows of stock owners also play an important role in investment decisions. In Hong Kong, there are legislations which govern the property stocks trading. Insider dealing occurs when a corporation or an individual that is directly or indirectly connected to a listed corporation uses information about that corporation to buy or sell securities with the aim to earn more than they would have without knowing this information. To ensure a level playing field for all participants in the market, the Securities (Insider Dealing) Ordinance (SIDO), and the Securities (Disclosure of Interests) Ordinance (SDIO) were implemented on September 1, 1991. Insider dealing, therefore, is a criminal offence in Hong Kong. The Insider Dealing Tribunal is empowered to impose orders to penalise insider dealers and inquire into insider dealing cases. A person who had been identified as an insider dealer may be required to pay the loss avoided by the insider dealing or an amount not exceeding the profit he/she made to the government. He/she may also be prohibited from assuming a position as a liquidator, director, manager or receiver of a company for a period of up to five years and/or penalised for an amount of up to three times the profit made. Any persons who contravene the orders or the investigation made by the Tribunal may be liable for a term of imprisonment of one year and a fine of up to $200,000. The SDIO requires the disclosure of interests for substantial directors and shareholders as well as chief executives of corporations. Regardless of where the companies are incorporated, the Ordinance is applicable to all companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK). A substantial shareholder is defined as anyone holding at least 5% of the share capital of a corporation listed on the SEHK. Moreover, chief executives and directors of a listed company are obligated to declare any interest in debentures or shares in the listed company or any associated corporation and their disposal or acquisition. Any shares or debentures owned by any children under the age of 18 or spouses of directors must also be disclosed. Both substantial shareholders and directors are required to report any alterations in their interests to the SEHK within five working days. If a listed company fails to comply with the Ordinance, the officer concerned would be liable for a fine of $2000. A further $200 fine per day must be paid in the case of continuing
LESIJ NR. XVIII, VOL. 2/2011

208

Lex ET Scientia. Economics Series

offences. An individual who makes a notification that is false in material particulars or who fails to make a timely notification is subject to a term of imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of up to $100,000 (Cheuk et al. 2006). Unlike the stock market in Japan and the US where securities law prohibits foreign securities being offered locally unless they are registered and registration is a process akin to listing on the local exchange, there is no such restriction in Hong Kong. Furthermore, Hong Kongs market is quite transparent as the authorities do not intervene in stock and bond markets via price-keeping operations (the Japanese broking houses may do so) or market participants try to manipulate the market for commercial or political gain (De Brouwer 2003). 3.2.2 Regulation of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) Currently, all REITs in Hong Kong are formed under section 104 of the SFO (Chapter 571 of the Laws of Hong Kong). Some regulations control the parties that can invest in REITs. Under section 8(2)(c) of Schedule 1, Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (General) Regulation, a constituent fund (CF) may invest no more than one tenth of its NAV into REITs as approved by the SFC under the REIT Code. The Occupational Retirement Scheme Ordinance (ORSO) states that there is no explicit prohibition of SFC-authorised REIT acquisition subject to the Code on Pooled Retirement Funds (Department of Justice 2011). On 30th July 2003, Hong Kongs final Code on Real Estate Investment Trusts was released. It permits Hong Kong REITs to be managed either externally by an external third party or internal party, i.e. parties of REIT sponsor. The manager must employ property management staff with at least 5 years experience in managing real estate and at least 2 officers with at least 5 years experience in managing collective investment schemes (Lockhart and Turl 2003). The following Table compares REITs in Hong Kong and other places. As gearing is critical for REITs to have flexibility in borrowing, a conservative approach adopted during financial crisis plays an important role in hedging against risks. Unlike the other places such as North America, Singapre and Australia where there are no limit on gearing, Hong Kong is quite conservative in setting a borrowing limit of 35% (Wang et al. 2009). Hong Kong There is borrowing limit at 35% Other places There is no limit in North American, Singapore, Australia, Japan and France. In Netherland, there is no more than 60% Singapore has similar requirement.

Gearing

Management company

Investment restrictions

At least 5 years experience in managing property funds or employment of persons with at least 5 years There is no restriction on overseas investment.

The same principle applies in Singapore, the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands and France.

Table 4 Financial regulations of REITs in Hong Kong and other places (Wang et al. 2009)

3.2.3 Regulation of Hong Kongs Derivatives As one of the major financial centres in the world, the emergence of derivative products has led to the question of whether Hong Kong's regulators should take the initiative in legislation
LESIJ NR. XVIII, VOL. 2/2011

Rita Yi Man LI Yi Lut LI

209

reform. Partly for historical reasons, there is no single unified regulatory framework that applies to all derivative products. Hong Kong derivatives are regulated in three principal ways. The first type of regulation refers to laws that have been designed specifically for particular types of derivatives. For instance, under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO), the trading of futures contracts is a regulated activity. Second, when derivatives are embedded in another investment instrument, their trading may be regulated by the regulations that are applicable to that particular instrument. For instance, a derivative may be embedded in a bond or note, such as an equity-linked note. Because an equity-linked note is regarded as a security, engaging in such derivatives trading constitute a regulated activity of securities dealing. Third, a derivative may contain certain characteristics and features similar to certain pre-existing products that have already been covered by the regulations applicable to these products; e.g., parties who are entering into longevity derivatives, credit derivatives or weather derivatives have to consider whether products as such constitute insurance. An insurance business must be regulated by the Insurance Companies Ordinance. Apart from the above-mentioned legal rules and regulations, similar to the US Commodity Exchange Act, the margin requirements and short sales restrictions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 which ruled out illegal speculation activities (Stout 1999), the Gambling Ordinance in Hong Kong requires the consideration of whether the derivatives issued are illegal gambling contracts (Department of Justice 2011).

4. Conclusion
Real estate derivatives and REITs are new investment tools, and Hong Kong's investors and legislators are still in the discovery stage regarding these. Common law has its principles and issues and can be classified into different types and sources. It has some drawbacks as well as benefits as compared to the civil law system; for instance, it is more consistent because similar cases are given similar judgments as a result of considering the precedents of the courts. In view of these advantages and the trend of globalisation, a mix of common law and civil law systems may be observed. Besides, because REITs and derivatives are relatively new financial products, business activities as such are governed mainly by rules that are applied to other similar products in Hong Kong. The subprime financial crisis, however, underscored the importance of appropriate regulations. It is expected that regulations will be designed specifically for these tools.

References Ambrose, W. and Bian, X. 2010. Stock Market Information and REIT Earnings Management. J Real Estate Research 32 (1):101-137. Arner, D.W. and Norton, J.J. 2009. Building a Framework to Address Failure of Complex Global Financial Institutions. Hong Kong Law J 39:95-128. Champion REIT. Champion REIT 2010 [cited 16 October 2010. Available from http://www.championreit.com/html/eng/home.jsp. Cheuk, M.Y., Fan, D.K. and So, R.W. 2006. Insider Trading in Hong Kong: Some Stylized Facts. Pacific-Basin Finance J 14 (1):73-90. Clayton, J. 2007. Commercial Real Estate Derivatives: the Developing US Market. J Econ Perspect 32 (2):33-40. Daly, W.J. 2008. Germany and the United Kingdom: Will Those Markets Experience the Same Success as the United States. Transnat Law Contemporary Prob 17 (3):839-868.
LESIJ NR. XVIII, VOL. 2/2011

210

Lex ET Scientia. Economics Series

De Brouwer, G. 2003. Financial Markets, Institutions, and Integration in East Asia Asian Econ Pap 2 (53-80). Department of Justice. Bilingual Laws Information System 2011 [cited 21 June 2011. Available from http://www.legislation.gov.hk/index.htm. Fabozzi, F.J., Shiller, R.J. and Tunaru, R.S. 2010. Property Derivatives for Managing European Real-Estate Risk. Eur Financ Manag 16 (1):8-26. GZI REIT Assessment Management Limited. GZI REIT Assessment Management Limited 2010 [cited 17 October 2010. Available from http://www.gzireit.com.hk/eng/pduty.asp. Herring, R.J. and Chatusripitak, N. 2000. The Case of the Missing Market: The Bond Market and Why It Matters for Financial Development. ADB Institute Working Paper. Hoesli, M. and Lekander, J. 2008. Real Estate Portfolio Strategy and Product Innovation In Europe. J Prop Invest Finance 26 (2):162-176. Lockhart, D. and Turl, G. 2003. Reits: Success in Hong Kong Depends on Flexible Regulation. Int Financial Law Rev 22:13-14. MacNeil, I. and Lau, A. 2001. International Corporate Regulation: Listing Rules and Overseas Companies. Int and Comp Law Quart 50:787, 802-803. Martin, E.A. 2009. Dictionary of Law. New York: Oxford University Press. Mcleod, I. 2009. Legal Method. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Monroe, P. 2009. REITs Amidst the Current Real Estate Crisis: An Analysis of the REITs Investment Diversification and Empowerment Act. J Bus Securities Law 9 (2):239-260. Newell, G. and Razali, M.N. 2009. The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Commercial Property Investment in Asia. Pacific Rim Property Res J 15 (4):430-452. Nwaeze, E.T. 2000. Positive and Negative Earnings Surprises, Regulatory Climate, and Stock Returns. Contemporary Acc Res 17 (1):107-134. Oikarinen, E., Hoesli, M. and Serrano, C. 2011. The Long-Run Dynamics between Direct and Securitized Real Estate J Real Estate Res 33 (1). Ong, S.E. and Ng, K.H. 2009. Developing the Real Estate Derivative Market for Singapore: Issues and Challenges. J Prop Invest Finance 27 (4):425-432. Ooi, J.T.L., Newell, G. and Sing, T.F. 2006. The Growth of REIT Markets in Asia. J Real Estate Lit 14 (2):203-204,206-222. Patel, K. and Pereira, R. 2008. Pricing Property Index Linked Swaps with Counterparty Default Risk. The J Real Estate Finance Econ 36:5-21. Prosperity REIT. About Prosperity REIT 2010 [cited 16 October 2010. Available from http://www.prosperityreit.com/eng/index.php. Regal Real Estate Investment Trusts. Regal Real Estate Investment Trusts 2010 [cited 10 October 2010. Available from http://www.regalreit.com/index.html. Rong, N. and Trck, S. 2010. Returns of REITS and Stock Markets. J Prop Invest Finance 28 (1):34-57. RREEF China Commercial Trust. RREEF China Commercial Trust 2010 [cited 10 October 2010. Available from https://www.rreef.com/cps/rde/xchg/reit_en/hs.xsl/index.html. Stout, L.A. 1999. Why the Law Hates Speculators: Regulation and Private Ordering in the Market for OTC Derivatives. Duke Law J 48:701-782. Suetin, A. 2011. Post-crisis Developments in International Financial Markets. Int J Law Manage 53 (1):51-61. Sunlight REIT. About Sunlight REIT 2010 [cited 10 October 2010. Available from http://www.sunlightreit.com/en/about/index.htm. Ulrich Schacht and Jens Wimschulte. 2008. German Property Investment Vehicles and the Introduction of G-REITs: an Analysis. J Prop Invest Finance 26 (3):232-246.
LESIJ NR. XVIII, VOL. 2/2011

Rita Yi Man LI Yi Lut LI

211

Wallace, R.S.O. and Naser, K. 1995. Firm-specific Determinants of the Comprehensiveness of Mandatory Disclosure in the Corporate Annual Reports of Firms Listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Journal of Acc and Public Pol 14 (4):311-368 Wang, H., Sun, Y. and Chen, Y. 2009. Special Considerations for Designing Pilot REITs in China. J Prop Invest Finance 27 (2):140-161. Wesley-Smith, P. 1998. An introduction to the Hong Kong Legal System. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.

LESIJ NR. XVIII, VOL. 2/2011